Capecitabine: a new adjuvant option for colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer continues to pose a major public health threat in the United States. Without postsurgical adjuvant therapy, approximately 50% of patients will have recurrent disease and die within five years. Since 1990, five new chemotherapy agents have been added to the therapeutic armamentarium...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inClinical journal of oncology nursing Vol. 10; no. 4; pp. 479 - 486
Main Author Berg, Deborah T
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Oncology Nursing Society 01.08.2006
Subjects
Administration, Oral
Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic - adverse effects
Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic - therapeutic use
Cancer therapies
Capecitabine
Cause of Death
Chemotherapy
Colorectal cancer
Colorectal Neoplasms - drug therapy
Colorectal Neoplasms - epidemiology
Colorectal Neoplasms - nursing
Continuity of Patient Care
Deoxycytidine - adverse effects
Deoxycytidine - analogs & derivatives
Deoxycytidine - therapeutic use
Diarrhea - chemically induced
Disease-Free Survival
Drug Interactions
Enzymes
FDA approval
Fluorouracil - analogs & derivatives
Humans
Infusions, Intravenous
Laboratories
Life Style
Metabolites
Metastasis
Multivariate Analysis
Nausea - chemically induced
Neoplasm Staging
Nurse's Role
Oncology
Oncology Nursing
Patient Care Planning
Risk Factors
Safety Management
Stomatitis - chemically induced
Tumors
United States - epidemiology
Vomiting - chemically induced
Women
United States
United States > US
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Summary:Colorectal cancer continues to pose a major public health threat in the United States. Without postsurgical adjuvant therapy, approximately 50% of patients will have recurrent disease and die within five years. Since 1990, five new chemotherapy agents have been added to the therapeutic armamentarium for management of colorectal cancer, and agents traditionally used to treat metastatic and advanced disease increasingly are being applied in the adjuvant setting. One such treatment, capecitabine, offers patients the benefit of oral dosing and permits at-home self-management. A phase III randomized trial, Xeloda in Adjuvant Colorectal Cancer Treatment, demonstrated that treatment with single-agent capecitabine was equivalent to bolus 5-fluorouracil with leucovorin with respect to disease-free survival and overall survival, with significantly less diarrhea, stomatitis, neutropenia, nausea and vomiting, and alopecia. This article reviews the findings and discusses how oncology nurses can help provide effective education and monitoring for patients using oral treatment in the adjuvant setting.
ISSN:1092-1095
1538-067X
DOI:10.1188/06.CJON.479-486